Deadly Game - Extra

DG Extra 3 - Daria's, D12, POV, The Cornucopia

Okay :) here we go again... Sorry for typos, iPod once again. Editing it tomorrow...

Next real chap of Deadly Game should be up tomorrow!!!

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DARIA, D12 - CORNUCOPIA

The disc rises.

I watch the golden Cornucopia, see the circle of tributes on their metal plates.

This is where I'll meet death.

Mum has told me about Heaven, about God. It's an old tale from the times before the rest of the Earth was destroyed, and it has been told from mother to daughter.

I want to believe that there is a better place. A place where I'll be free, free to make my choices.

A place where my loved one is waiting for me.

My heart has been broken since the day he died in the mines, and now I'm going to make it whole.

He kisses me lightly, then leaves with the words,

"See you tonight, honey! I love you."

I watch him as he walks away, to the mines, to his work.

Then I sigh and start my own work.

I sew shoes out of leather, the cheap kind most people in District 12 can afford. I make good buisness, since my shoes are cheap, and they last long. They don't break easily.

After four long hours of work, I let myself relax with a cup of 'tea' - dried raspberry leaves in hot water. Nick and I just got married, and we do not have that much money, so I don't eat during the day.

After the tea I take the shoes with me and go into town. My little shop is always open after lunch. It is nothing more than a small room, but I keep it clean and as cozy as possible.

There aren't many customers today, only a few. A good friend of mine, Cara, a coal miner's daughter, pops in to say hello. I am talking happily with her when the alarm sounds.

 Cara's face is intstantly drained from blood, she is pale as a ghost.

"God, no! Father, Dean!" Her father and brother are working in the mines today.

So is Nick.

Together we rush through the streets, slinking through the mass of people.

No one gives us a second thought. Just two poor young women from the Seam, running to find their loved ones.

We come to the mines, fight our way through the crowd to the Peacekeepers that keep the crowd away, as we are desperately trying to see who is coming out.

Some time passes, and worker after worker comes into sight, joining their families.

"Father!" Cara cries, sprinting to the old man covered in coal dust.

She hugs him tight. "Father."

I feel a happy sparkle bubble in my chest. Cara's father, an old man, has survived, so why wouldn't Nick?

"Father, where's Dean?"

Cara's father shakes his head. That's when I notice the tears in his eyes.

"No. Dean...no." Cara's heartbreaking sobs are the last thing I can concentrate on now. I wait. Soon it will be Nick coming up, soon I'll throw myself into his strong arms.

Nick may be next.

Or next.

Or next.

I wait.

The wind blows coal-dust into my face and ruffles my black hair.

I wait.

Then the line of people thins out. No more are coming out. I feel numb. Where is the pain when I need it? I wish I can break down and sob like Cara, but I'm unable to move. Ice spreads through my body, and I feel my heart shattering into millions of pieces.

Nick is gone.

I fall to my knees, silent tears streaming down my face, drawing lines into the coal-dust.

Someone wraps a blanket around my shoulders, I hear people murmuring comforting words, but nothing breaks through.

I'm offered a cup of hot soup, and I eat, feeling like I can't feel anything at all ever again.

I brace myself, and take a last look around the circle of tributes.

The girl from 4 catches my gaze, and we lock eyes for a moment. I want her to win - she's strong and has a heart of gold, I sense it, I've seen how she defended the little redhead during training.

Good luck, Sea Princess, I think.

I whisper my last goodbyes to my family, the wind whipping away the words from my lips.

I hear a distant cry from the girl from 4, Cassidy Wildeman.

"No!"

But it's too late. I step off my plate.

I'm coming, Nick, I'm coming.